Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN!
Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2019.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Explore the OurFamTree.org/Records/ Website

There are over 243,000 records in this site - with names, dates, places, and links for teachers, graduates, judges, sheriffs, ministers, and even more "officials." Your ancestors may be on this list.

Ray has been collecting
historical records for specific public and private offices into
lists, and now his website is available to share them.

Ray wrote:

"This project started
when I found a list of 50+ previous pastors of my home Methodist
church in NC, and wanted to know where they served before and after
they were at my church.

"There was no one
resource to answer this -- just a lot of random googling, hoping to
find something. So as I was searching and finding lists from other
churches, I thought I should start recording them for future
reference.

"Well,
that has gotten out-of-hand. My list is now at over 106,000
minister records from all states and all church denominations I have
searched so far... and as I was searching, I kept finding other lists
of people I thought I should record too. So I expanded the webpage
to include church deacons, postmasters, justices of the peace,
sheriffs, treasurers, judges, university professors, lighthouse
keepers, and more. Anywhere I can find a list of people with their
dates of service in a specific position, and especially positions
that might otherwise not have as much visibility. All in one
searchable list, I'm up to over 243,000
records in total, and still adding more daily.

"This
list can be helpful for one-name studies -- finding anyone with a
surname, anywhere they may be, or studying a location, and finding
many of the people who served in that location, or for searching for
individual people. For anyone found, the quoted source may have more
information on the person. Almost all sources are online.

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below. Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

1. I wish he would make his software available for sale. (appears to be loosely based on TNG but he has made many many improvements)2. With only 243,000 records/persons performance is great, but I have over that many in just my own records, what if 1000 people like me added info? What kind of performance will he have when there are 24,300,000 records/persons?3. I would really prefer to control my own data, as he is a one man show, and can he really guarantee that his site is secure? My data will be secure? what if he isnt around, what safeguards are there for my data?

Hello, I'm the administrator of the websites referenced here. responding to the posts above -- Janice: The main topic of this blog post is the collection of records at www.ourfamtree.org/records. The main website at www.ourfamtree.org is a site where you can maintain your family tree online. I can upload a gedcom, but I emphasize that this is NOT just a site where you upload a gedcom and leave it. If information is put online here, the intention is that it will be maintained directly on the website as you add and update new information.

Jay: It's not for sale, as this is a collaborative site where researchers contribute towards one shared tree. Like the shared tree at Familysearch.org, but with more sensible control over your data. Having it for sale and distributed would defeat the purpose of a shared tree.... The 243,000 number is just for the historical records collection, to which only I add information. The main website, where anyone can add anything at any time, has about 549,000 records. I don't know what kind of performance it would have at 24 million, but it would be a while before it gets to that point. Keep in mind this is a shared tree -- once an ancestor is added, that person exists only ONCE, and all related trees link to the one shared ancestor. No duplicates.... You do control your own data. No one can edit your information without your permission.

Tess: While a majority of the information may be American, there is nothing that limits it to America. Users from UK, Australia, South Africa, and other countries have submitted information.

Also, one other comment to refocus the original blog post. Randy did a great job in explaining this collection of records I am organizing, but the comments were mostly focused on the parent website. I just don't want any confusion or misunderstanding about the parent site to distract from drawing attention to this unique collection of information coming together at www.ourfamtree.org/records. The two are connected in several ways, but using one is not required to use the other. Thank you.

Genealogy Jamboree 2019

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About Me

I am a native San Diegan, a graduate of San Diego State University, a retired aerospace engineer, a genealogist and a family guy.
My wife (Angel Linda) and I have two lovely daughters, and five darling grandchildren. We love to visit them and have them visit us.
Angel Linda and I love to travel to visit friends and relatives, to sightsee, to cruise or to do genealogy. Our travels have taken us all over the USA, to England, Down Under and Scandinavia.
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Contact me via email at randy.seaver@gmail.com